The Greene County Democrat

Tag: inflation

  • Newswire: In Iran’s capital, weapons demonstrations send a signal at home and abroad as threat of war remains

    Newswire: In Iran’s capital, weapons demonstrations send a signal at home and abroad as threat of war remains

    by Jon Gambrell, AP News

    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iranian Revolutionary Guard members now regularly show the public in Tehran how to handle Kalashnikov-style assault rifles. Parades through the capital feature military vehicles mounted with belt-fed Soviet-era machine guns. And at one mass wedding, a ballistic missile, like the one that rained down cluster munitions on Israel, adorned the stage.

    Weapons are now regularly brandished in Tehran, an increasing show of defiance as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens he could restart the war with Iran should negotiations break down and the Islamic Republic refuses to release its grip on the Strait of Hormuz.

    The weapons displays reflect the genuine threat Iran faces: Trump has suggested American forces could seize Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium by force and previously said that he sent arms to Kurdish fighters to pass on to anti-government protesters.

    But they also offer reassurance and motivation to hard-liners and provide rare entertainment at a time of great uncertainty, when Iranians are facing mass layoffs, business closures and spiraling prices for food, medicine and other goods. Suggesting more hard-liners will be armed could also help suppress any new demonstrations against Iran’s theocracy, which violently put down nationwide protests in January in a crackdown that activists say killed over 7,000 people and saw tens of thousands detained.

    “This is necessary for all our people to get trained because we are in a war situation these days,” said Ali Mofidi, a 47-year-old Tehran resident at a weapons training Tuesday night. “If necessary, everyone should be available and know how to use a gun.”

    Iran has repeatedly sought to project strength during the war

    For months, state television and government-sponsored text messages have bombarded the public with calls to join the “Janfada,” or the “ones who sacrifice their lives.” At one point, hard-liners encouraged families with boys as young as 12 to send them to the Revolutionary Guard to work checkpoints — which Amnesty International denounced as a war crime.

    Government officials say more than 30 million people in Iran — home to a population of some 90 million — have volunteered via an online form or at public gatherings to lay down their lives for Iran’s theocracy. There is no way to confirm that figure and there’s been no sign of a mass mobilization yet, like the one that Ukraine underwent in the days before Russia’s full-scale 2022 invasion, in which officials handed out rifles and people banded together to make gasoline bombs.

    But there have been several public announcements and presenters have appeared armed during live programs on state TV, as part of efforts to feed the fervor.

    “Looking back at the moment I registered my name, I realize I wasn’t truly contemplating the dangers of fighting on the front lines. In that moment, like everyone else, my thoughts were solely on Iran,” wrote journalist Soheila Zarfam in a column for the state-owned Tehran Times newspaper. “My life might end, but Iran would endure, and that was all that truly mattered.”

    Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi has criticized the public weapons demonstrations, particularly footage of young boys handling assault rifles, saying: “Scenes like these are reminiscent of child hostage-taking and arming by groups such as Boko Haram in Nigeria, and militias in Sudan and Congo.”

    Weapons training, once unusual, becomes a norm

    A recent government-organized demonstration by nomads in Iran saw them carrying everything from bolt-action Lee–Enfield rifles of the British Empire to a blunderbuss, a predecessor of the shotgun more familiar to the age of pirates on the high seas. 

    But during weeks of an unsteady ceasefire, most of the weapon demonstrations appear focused on Tehran, not the rural areas where there is a tradition of keeping rifles and shotguns at home. 

    At a demonstration Tuesday night in Tehran, male and female participants divided into separate classes. Hadi Khoosheh, a member of the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force and trainer, demonstrated how to handle a folding-stock Kalashnikov-style assault rifle.

    “At the end of the training those who completed the course will receive a card titled ‘Janfada,’ proving they have received basic and preliminary training for this type of gun and they are able to use it if, God forbid, something happens to our country,” Khoosheh said. 

    However, the weapons training was rudimentary at best for the young boys and older men gathered. One struggled to insert the rifle’s magazine and inadvertently pointed the barrel of the unloaded weapon at others — a major safety breach that people are taught to avoid in basic firearms training. 

    “Definitely we will stand against (the Americans) and won’t give up even an inch of our soil,” said Mofidi, the man at the training. “No matter if they come from the sea or land, we will stand by our flag.”

    Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi and Mehdi Fattahi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

    Featured image credentials: (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

  • Newswire: Inflation hits highest one month spike in four years due to Iran War

    Newswire: Inflation hits highest one month spike in four years due to Iran War

    Gas station sign in California, showing high gas prices

    By Joe Jurado, NewsOne

    While Iran and the United States have agreed to a two-week ceasefire that’s looking shakier by the day, the impact of the war is still being felt by the global economy. Last month, inflation rose at its sharpest in four years, largely driven by higher gas prices. 

    According to NBC News, inflation rose to 3.3% in March, up 0.9% from the month before. Gas prices increased by 21.2%, their largest single-month increase since 1967. I gotta be honest, folks, I’m getting real tired of living through historically bad economic changes. While a ceasefire was declared last Tuesday, there hasn’t been a meaningful drop in gas prices. Anecdotally speaking, I’ve seen gas prices drop a whopping 10 cents from $4.99 to $4.89 in Arizona. 

    The misguided Iran war has created a series of headaches for the Trump administration. Trump ran on lowering prices, and AP reports that there are growing concerns that if gas prices continue to stay so high, it would have dramatic downwind consequences for the American economy. There was already a cost-of-living crisis before the Iran war, and the inflated gas prices could result in families struggling to afford other necessities, such as rent. Once the essentials become a struggle to afford, it would slow spending in other sectors, slowing the economy and potentially leading to further unemployment. 

    “It’s painful in the near term,” Michael Pearce, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, told AP. “It’s going to get more painful in April,” as a result of further gas price increases lifting inflation even higher. 

    AP reports that there are growing concerns that if gas prices continue to stay so high, it would have dramatic downwind consequences for the American economy. There was already a cost-of-living crisis before the Iran war, and the inflated gas prices could result in families struggling to afford other necessities, such as rent. Once the essentials become a struggle to afford, it would slow spending in other sectors, slowing the economy and potentially leading to further unemployment. 

    From AP: Consumer sentiment plunged to a record low in April, according to a survey released Friday by the University of Michigan, largely because of the Iran war and concerns over higher gas prices. Their Index of Consumer Sentiment fell to 47.6, from 53.3 in March.

    “Many consumers blame the Iran conflict for unfavorable changes to the economy,” said Joanne Hsu, the university’s director of consumer surveys.

    High prices had angered American voters before the war and the spike in prices for oil and everything that entails, from the pump to the grocery store, could make it more difficult for the president’s party to hold on to seats in both the House and the Senate in next year’s midterms.

    Polling by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research last month found that about six in 10 Republicans are at least “somewhat” concerned about affording gas in the next few months.

    Another point of concern regards the Strait of Hormuz, which has become a focal point in the conflict. While ships were able to flow freely through the Strait of Hormuz before the war, Iran has locked down access and is considering charging a toll for entry. This would obviously lead to a permanent increase in prices, as that cost would definitely be passed down to the consumer. 

    One of the downwind effects of the Strait’s closure is rising food prices. While food costs remained relatively neutral throughout March, much of the world’s fertilizer supply passes through the Strait of Hormuz. Should Iran and the U.S. fail to agree on a permanent ceasefire resolution, it would likely lead to food scarcity, which would obviously increase prices. Those increases would also be compounded by rising fuel costs, as the nation’s food supply is largely transported via diesel trucks.